My shield sprang into being, and the Ring of Etron activated a moment later. The movement of my lungs was arrested, my face was locked in place, and I couldn’t even move my eyelids to blink. Luckily, I didn’t have to wait for long before the troll attacked. The troll put its entire body into its attack as it threw the mound of stone like a fastball.
I barely even saw the stone as it traveled from the troll’s hand to my shield. The Ring of Etron rang like a church bell as it reached its momentum threshold without stopping the projectile completely. The mound of stone struck my shield and was deflected off to my left completely in tact. In hindsight, angling my shield was unnecessary since the stone ultimately struck my shield at a low speed.
The troll looked at me with an expression of dumb confusion on its face. It didn’t understand why the rock struck with such little force. Before the troll could recover from its confusion, I aimed my staff in its direction and shouted the activation phrase for [Volcano Cannon].
DAMAGE DEALT: 310
That second attack struck even more accurately than the first one. My orb of molten magma struck the troll in the neck, detonating a millisecond later. Napalm-like molten fire covered the troll’s body, but it was unnecessary. The explosive force of the expanding orb of fire and the kinetic force of the projectile were sufficient to completely decapitate the troll. The troll’s head, completely covered in molten rock, flew backwards away from the troll’s main body, stopping several meters back.
With the troll now neutralized, I noticed a sizable hole in the ground that should not have been there. The hole had formed in the center of the street, and it was large enough for a pair of trolls to fit through. Seeing the deep scores that had been slashed into the sides of the hole, I was certain that the trolls had used the hole to reach the surface. I peeked my head over the lip of the hole and saw that it led to the sewers underneath the city. Whoever was attacking the city must have been using the sewers to move their forces.
My wand flashed, and I took off into the sky a second later. Usually, arcane flight was forbidden in major cities, but I was certain that this was an acceptable exception. Within minutes, I reached the Golden Stag and saw that half a dozen holes had formed in the cobbled streets.
Monstrous corpses surrounded the Golden Stag building. Some had been killed with fire, some with bladed weapons, and a few with arrows. Zombies, goblins, trolls, half-dragons, two small wyverns, and a strange reptilian race that I forgot the name of could be seen amongst the corpses. I searched the area near the Golden Stag, but I could not find any traces of my group.
Following the sounds of combat and the trail of fresh corpses, I soon found three horse-drawn vehicles heading in the direction of one of the city’s gates. Standing atop the wagon in the center of the procession was Beltane. He held his staff high up in the air and periodically fired vicious arcs of electricity at any monster that got too close. I landed heavily on the wagon next to Beltane and realized that one of my feet had landed on the great talpa’s head.
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“We won’t be needing this, anymore,” I said a moment before uttering the activation phrase for [Catapult] and launching the great talpa’s head out of the wagon.
“You made it,” Beltane said cheerfully a moment after he fried a brave goblin who had tried to jump onto the wagon.
I muttered the activation phrase for [Ice Spear] and launched six low-power spears at a small group of reptilian humanoids that were approaching from behind before saying, “I wouldn’t miss it. Hold on a second. Where’s Kinro?”
LEVEL UP: 22
New HP: 67
New MP: 495
As if in response to my question, the Yomotsan swordsman entered my vision in an instant. His appearance was paired with a sharp crack and a burst of wind. At the moment of his appearance, several low-level monsters exploded in a blast of gore and viscera. It was less like they were killed by a clean cut with a samurai sword and more like they were bludgeoned to death by a single swing with a mighty hammer.
A moment after his movement was halted and he stopped completely, Kinro’s stance faltered, and he lurched forward to catch himself. Laughing like a drunken sailor, Kinro looked at the blade of his katana and said, “Would you look at that? My blade alignment was off.”
I lightly nudged Beltane with my elbow and said, “See, that’s why I keep him around.”
Soon thereafter, we reached the outer gate of Etron. With the help of Beltane and a semi-coherent Kinro, all the monsters we ran into posed little threat to us. Once we entered the Gate District, the concentration of monsters decreased significantly, and I allowed myself to relax.
Our carriages were held up by a crowd of terrified people who wanted to exit the city at the same time as us. Hundreds of people were trying to leave the city through a small gate that only allowed a handful of people to pass at a time. The carriages came to a complete stop just outside of the gate, and I found myself surrounded on all sides by despair and terror.
I got out of my seat and climbed to the back of the wagon in an attempt to see the gate in the distance. Just as I spotted the gate far in the distance, something strange happened. I blinked my eye. When I opened it, a humanoid form was floating a few meters in front of my face.
The figure wore a deep blue cloak, and the figure’s face was cast in a shadow so deep that I figured it must have been the result of Illusion magic. The other people in the crowd reacted with fear at the man’s sudden appearance, letting me know that I wasn’t hallucinating.
The Blue Mage carried a pure white staff in one hand, and an enchanted sword that I couldn’t identify was sheathed at his hip.
Even through the shadowed cowl, I could tell that the Blue Mage was looking directly at Haydith and me. In a voice that seemed to cut through the noise of the crowd, the Blue Mage spoke in a language from a faraway land. In perfect English, he said, “Thale, Haydith. Consider this a piece of professional courtesy. Stay out of my business, and I’ll stay out of yours. Don’t come looking for me, and stop messing with the Lich Cult.”
Based on his body language, I knew that he was about to leave. I would only have one chance to get information before he disappeared from Etron. I asked in English, “Why are you working with the Lich Cult?”
“Why? Simple. I’m doing it because chaos is good for us.”
With that, the Blue Mage snapped his fingers and disappeared without a trace.